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The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is now striking alongside the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which started its strike back in May. The two guilds are advocating for better pay, increased royalties, better pension and health plans and guardrails on the use of AI in the industry.
Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid says these strikes are important and that the people in the guilds working behind the scenes need more safeguards to support their livelihoods.
The background actors, the day players, the ones who populate your favorite movies and TV shows but never get recognized on the street — those are the people we are fighting for. So, let’s break down what the strike is about. There are five issues at play here. Residuals, streaming platforms, inflation, artificial intelligence and self-tape auditions.
That last one: self-tape auditions. Imagine you’re an actor. You get offered an opportunity to be considered for a role. You spend several hours memorizing your lines. You do your own hair, makeup and wardrobe, because you don’t want to lose out on the part because your competition did those things better.
Maybe you pay someone to read opposite you. That’s a thing now. You shoot yourself using equipment you had to pay for to be competitive and you send your work off to a casting director. And then you don’t get the part. That is labor for which you will never be compensated.
